From Pictograph to Ideogram: The History of 214 Essential Chinese/Japanese Characters

An illuminating history of 214 Chinese/Japanese calligraphic characters.

Written Chinese can call upon about 40,000 characters, many of which originated some 6,000 years ago as little pictures of everyday objects used by the ancients to communicate with one another. To convey more abstract ideas or concepts, the Chinese stylized and combined their pictographs. For instance, the character for “man”—a straight back above two strong legs—becomes, with the addition of a head and shoulders and arms held sternly akimbo, the character for “official.” This book, modeled after a classic compilation of the Chinese language done in the 18th century, introduces readers to the 214 root pictographs or symbols upon which this writing system, whose rich complexities hold a wealth of cultural meaning, is based. These key characters, called radicals, are all delightfully presented in this volume, with their graphic development traced stage-by-stage to the present representation, where even now (in many of them) one can easily make out what was originally pictured—with the author’s guidance. Centuries ago, when the Japanese took up writing, they also adopted these symbols, though they gave them different names in their own spoken language.

Each of the 214 classic radicals is charmingly explored by the author, both for its etymology and for what it reveals about Chinese history and culture. Chinese characters are marvels of graphic design, and this book even shows the proper way to write each radical, stroke by stroke. Finally, there are also samples of each radical combined with other radicals and character elements to demonstrate how new characters are formed—some 8,000 have been added to the language since the eighteenth century. With all its expertly executed calligraphic illustrations and fascinating commentary, this book serves as an excellent introduction to Chinese writing and its milieu.

Roy Lichtenstein (born 1923) became famous in the early 1960s for his deadpan recreations of popular imagery, particularly paintings based on war and romance comics. As this book demonstrates, Lichtenstein's interest in quoting subjects form both high and low art has continued throughout his career, producing a fascinating and varied body of work.

About the Modern Masters series

With informative, enjoyable texts and over 100 illustrations--approximately 48 in full color--this innovative series offers a fresh look at the most creative and influential artists of the postwar era. The authors are highly respected art historians and critics chosen for their ability to think clearly and write well. Each handsomely designed volume presents a thorough survey of the artist's life and work, as well as statements by the artist, an illustrated chapter on technique, a chronology, lists of exhibitions and public collections, an annotated bibliography, and an index. Every art lover, from the casual museumgoer to the serious student, teacher, critic, or curator, will be eager to collect these Modern Masters. And with such a low price, they can afford to collect them all.

Sculpture In Place

An illumination of the work of one of contemporary sculpture's greatest masters.

Two decades of Beverly Pepper's bold sculptural statements are presented here, from the highly polished stainless-steel works of the 1960s to the earthbound geometrics of the 1970s to the more recent monoliths. Pepper has figured centrally in such watershed modern movements as Constructivism, Assemblage, and Minimalism. Published in conjunction with a major Albright-Knox Art Gallery exhibition, this beautifully illustrated treatment of a contemporary master includes superb essays by Douglas Schultz, and Rosalind Krauss.

A Frank Lloyd Wright Country House

Considered Frank Lloyd Wright's domestic masterpiece, Fallingwater is recognized worldwide as the paradigm of organic architecture. Here, in beautiful photographs, the first as-built measured plans, and an intimate narrative by the only key figure still alive, is the fascinating story of this masterwork.

Fallingwater is the most famous modern house in America. Indeed, readers of the Journal of the American Institute of Architects voted it the best American building of the last 125 years! Annually, more than 128,000 visitors seek out Fallingwater in its remote mountain site in southwestern Pennsylvania. Considered Frank Lloyd Wright's domestic masterpiece, the house is recognized worldwide as the paradigm of organic architecture, where a building becomes an integral part of its natural setting.

This charming and provocative book is the work of the man best qualified to undertake it, who was both apprentice to Wright and son of the man who commissioned the house. Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., closely followed the planning and construction of Fallingwater, and lived in the house on weekends and vacations for twenty-seven years-until, following the deaths of his parents, he gave the house in 1963 to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to hold for public enjoyment and appreciation.

This is a personal, almost intimate record of one man's fifty-year relationship to a work of genius that only gradually revealed its complexities and originality. With full appreciation of the intentions of both architect and client, Mr. Kaufmann described this remarkable building in detail, telling of its extraordinary virtues but not failing to reveal its faults. One section of the book focuses on the realities of Fallingwater as architecture. A famous building right from its beginnings (only partly because it was Wright's first significant commission in more than a decade), Fallingwater has accumulated considerable publicity and analysis-much of it off the mark. Mr. Kaufmann outlined and dealt with the common misunderstandings that have obscured the building's true values and supplied accurate information and interpretations. In another section Mr. Kaufmann provided an in-depth essay on the subtleties of Fallingwater, the ideology underlying its esthetics. A key element of this is the close interweaving of the house and its rugged, challenging setting, which he explicated in fascinating detail.

The author maintained throughout the direct approach of one who knew and loved Fallingwater. As an apprentice and loyal admirer of the architect, Mr. Kaufmann was well attuned to the architecture. And as a retired professor of architectural history and frequent lecturer and panelist, he had considerable experience in presenting and interpreting Wright's ideas. Thoroughly versed in the books, articles, drawings, and buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright, Mr. Kaufmann was eminently situated to place Fallingwater in that context. This unique record was presented in celebration of Fallingwater's fiftieth anniversary.

Special features of this volume include: numerous never-before published photographs of the house under construction, during its entire history, and of the family in residence; a room-by-room pictorial survey in full color taken especially for this volume; isometric architectural perspectives that explain visually how the house was constructed; and the first accurate, measured plans of the house as built.

Acclaimed as the definitive volume on Kline, this book provides firsthand accounts of his Bohemian life and powerful work.

Franz Kline spent years struggling to find a style for himself and then achieved "overnight success" with his dramatic black-and-white abstractions. They were, in fact, so successful that they overwhelmed every other aspect of Kline's art, and as a result he has been oversimplified and underestimated. Based on nearly 20 years of research, this seminal monograph provides a comprehensive view of Kline's life and work and reveals how unexpectedly complex they both were.Using interviews with the artist's friends and critics, and quoting from his letters, the author has created an evocative portrait of Kline's evolution from ambitious art student, to penniless Greenwich Village artist painting murals in bars, to, finally, a mature artist in command of his own unique and hard-won style. With its detailed yet thoroughly readable text and 170 illustrations (many published here for the first time), this book brings to light much new information about Kline and enriches our appreciation and understanding of his art.

Old Master Paintings in North America reveals the astonishing variety and quality of North American collections, the results of over one hundred years of inspired collecting by individual collectors and public institutions. It may be no surprise that the Metropolitan Museum and the Frick Collection in New York and the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. have a large number of El Grecos, for example. But how many of us are aware that works by El Greco can also be found in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; Sarasota, Florida; Glen Falls, New York; and in Ottawa and Montreal?

The only guide of its kind, Old Master Paintings in North America provides a complete and fully captioned listing of every painting in U.S. and Canadian collections by fifty selected old master painters–from the early Renaissance to the mid-nineteenth century. This volume also contains a valuable geographical index which provides vital museum-going information: addresses, hours, and admission fees, as well as listing of other important painters represented in the museums.

In addition to helping the reader locate these masterpieces, Old Master Painting in North America also provides the means for more fully enjoying these great treasures. The author, Mr. John Morse–a noted art historian and critic–provides brief biographical entries for each of the fifty painters, and longer essays analyzing the significance of their work. The book is lavishly illustrated with large full-page color plates as well as over one hundred black-and-white illustrations. This book is not only for the tourist, but also for the armchair traveler who can also enjoy the wonderful treasures in North America’s museums.

Old Master Paintings in North America is a beautiful addition to anyone’s art-book library, and an indispensable companion for the art-living traveler, for the student and scholar.